Planning Law Updates – Page 3
Dated, sourced explainers of NPPF revisions, new legislation, permitted development changes and case law.
Planning Law Updates articles – page 3
180 articlesClass MA: what the prior approval actually tests
Class MA is not a planning application. The council decides a closed list of prescribed matters, and most refusals turn on qualification, natural light or an incomplete submission.
The 2020 Use Classes Order amendment and Class E
Class E folded shops, offices, restaurants, gyms, clinics and light industry into one class, while pubs, takeaways and cinemas were pushed out into sui generis. The consequences are still surfacing.
Plan making reform and the 30 month local plan timetable
The 2023 Act rebuilds local plan preparation around gateway assessments and a shorter statutory timetable. Whether the provisions are in force depends on regulations and updated guidance, so check the current position before advising on programme.
Biodiversity net gain exemptions and the de minimis test
The biodiversity gain condition applies to most planning permissions in England, but householder development, small habitat losses and qualifying self-build schemes sit outside it. The evidence for a claim is the part people underestimate.
Local plan making reform: gateways and timetables
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act reshapes plan preparation, but much of it depends on regulations. Here is how to work out which system a plan sits in.
Retained EU law and what changed for environmental assessment
Assimilated law renamed the regime without rewriting it. Here is what actually changed for EIA and habitats assessment, and how to cite directive-derived law now.
Policy codes in the Framework and older paragraph numbers
A paragraph number no longer identifies a test on its own. How to translate between Framework editions from the substance rather than a concordance table.
Consultation drafts and why they are not policy yet
Draft national policy is a weak material consideration, and treating it as operative policy damages the rest of your case. How weight builds, and how to time a submission around a change.
Reading a statutory instrument that amends the GPDO
An amending order is a set of editing instructions, not a readable rule. The skill is applying it to the principal order and knowing which version governs your case.
Transitional provisions and which rules apply to you
A planning reform almost never applies to everything at once. The answer to which version applies is usually sitting in a commencement order most people never open.
Hope value, compulsory purchase and the 2023 Act changes
Compensation can now be assessed without the development premium in defined cases. What hope value is, how a direction is made and confirmed, and the evidence to keep.
Solar panel permitted development on homes and businesses
Most roof panels on a house need no application, provided they project no more than 200 millimetres and sit below the ridge. The limits, the exclusions and when prior approval applies.
Grey belt and how the term is applied in policy
Nothing is drawn on a policies map. Grey belt asks whether a parcel of Green Belt does much of the work the designation was made to do, and the evidence decides it.
The Infrastructure Levy powers in the 2023 Act explained
The 2023 Act creates a value-based levy through regulations that carry almost all the detail. What the framework enables, what changes for appraisals, and what to check.
Nutrient neutrality and the 2030 duty on water companies
The upgrade duty inserted into the Water Industry Act 1991 does not switch nutrient neutrality off. It fixes a date that a nutrient budget can be calculated against.
Heat pumps under Class G permitted development
Class G of Part 14 permits a domestic air source heat pump subject to conditions on equipment, siting, size and use. Miss one and the whole class falls away.
Grey belt: how Green Belt policy was reframed
Grey belt covers previously developed Green Belt land and land that does not strongly contribute to three of the five Green Belt purposes. The definition, the sequence and the golden rules.
Local plan reform and the thirty month plan making timetable
The reformed plan making process targets thirty months, introduces gateway assessments during preparation and moves generic policy into a national set. Check what is actually in force first.
Part O overheating: what the 2021 amendment introduced
Part O asks new residential buildings to limit solar gains and remove excess heat. It is a building regulations requirement, yet almost every mitigation it points to is fixed on the planning drawings.
Biodiversity net gain: the phased commencement dates
Which biodiversity net gain regime applies depends on when the application was made, not when it was decided. The two commencement dates, the exemptions and the transitional rules.
Commencement and completion notices under the 2023 Act
Three different things are called a commencement notice and two are called a completion notice. Here is what the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 added, what it does not do, and what to check before advising.
Enforcement time limits: the move to ten years explained
The four year rule is gone in England. A single ten year period now applies to all breaches occurring after April 2024, while earlier breaches keep the old period.
Written ministerial statements and the weight they carry
Written ministerial statements are not legislation and not part of the development plan, yet they can state national policy. Here is how to assess their weight and cite one properly.
The 2026 NPPF: reading the new policy-coded structure
The Framework published on 17 August 2026 uses policy-coded chapters instead of paragraph numbers. Here is how to convert older citations, label superseded numbering and keep a live project current.
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